This must be one of Bronson's best performances. But the film itself is nothing to write home about and does not deserve a review. But I am writing one anyway.BRONSON plays this small time hood who is being hunted by the mafioso after his former boss (played by LINO VENTURA) puts out a contract on his head, fearing that he might spill the beans about their operations, for a deal with the police. Much of the film is told in flashbacks as Bronson's character narrates the story of his life to a man of the law. The film has a great memorable score by RIZ ORTOLANI. It is used to great effect in the scenes with BRONSON and JILL IRELAND, who plays his wife. It also boasts of a great fight scene in jail where a nude fighting fit Bronson holds his own against assassins in the jail's shower. The film also has a depiction of the Appalachin meeting mentioned in GOODFELLAS.But it is a rather tepid and flat film. No real memorable scenes. Underdeveloped characters. It is a real mess. And even though i liked the way the film looked, some of the sets looked like sets.(6/10)

When I heard that Twilight Time was going to release THE VALACHI PAPERS I was ecstatic. As a fan of Charles Bronson it was one of the few films of his I hadn't seen in some time. Not only that if you wanted to see it you had to pay an arm and a leg for a copy of the film since it was out of print. Before this release I'd seen copies going for around $50 online! To start with the odds are pretty good that a number of viewers aren't even aware of who Joseph Valachi was. In the sixties Attorney General Robert Kennedy was aiming at taking on organized crime. The problem was most members of the organization kept quiet. Until Joe Valachi, after an attempt was made on his life in prison, came forward willing to tell all. It changed history as it presented the structure used by the organization and helped create a data base for law enforcement. His story was then told in book for by author Peter Maas who also wrote Frank Serpico's autobiography.With this in mind the story was ripe to make into a film. The movie opens with an older Valachi in prison where he is given the "kiss of death" by mob boss Vito Genovese (Lino Ventura). When he fears he is being attacked, Valachi defends himself only to discover the man he killed was not part of the mob. Sentenced to life with no hope of parole and fearing another attempt on his life, Valachi agrees to inform on the mob and contacts federal agent Ryan (Gerald O'Loughlin) to tell his tale.The movie progresses in flashbacks to the early days of Valachi as a young man on the streets committing crimes like burglary. When it becomes apparent he's willing to do what it takes to make his bosses happy, he is recruited to become a member of the mafia. But it is also around this time that things are changing and a mob war is going on with two different factions wanting to take control. He survives this battle but comes out of it in the bad side of his boss, Tony Bender.The film shows various crimes Valachi was involved in, his romance and marriage to the daughter of his boss (played by Bronson's real life wife Jill Ireland) and how things in the mob itself changed over time. It's never a deep rooted film based so much in facts and figures as it is the story of one man and the things seen through his eyes. Low budgeted and filled with a number of Italian actors since this was a film made in Italy, the movie is more of a glossed over slice of history rather than a dead on depiction.That doesn't mean it isn't an entertaining film with plenty of story to tell. Bronson shines here, allowed to not only play the aging gangster but to play him in all parts of his life. This was something he rarely had the opportunity to do and one of the main reasons he agreed to play the part. There is enough action and bloodshed to keep people happy but Bronson has a chance to act rather than just be the tough guy here. The movie is interesting and moves at a steady pace that holds your interest from start to finish.Twilight Time has done a solid job, as always, of offering a well-made presentation of this movie. The picture quality is fine and presents the movie in the best possible quality. The extras are limited to a single item, a partial isolated score track. The odds are that nothing was made to help promote the film when it was originally released making anything else non-existent. As with all Twilight Time releases this one is limited to only 3,000 so if you want this one at an affordable price then by all means pick one up immediately before they're all gone. If you're goal is to collect all movies starring Charles Bronson act fast.

I must agree with other IMDb reviewers who found this film flat and unconvincing. It has that "early 70s. low budget" look to it and lacks the realistic grittiness of The French Connection and Taxi Driver. Also, it definitely does not hold up well over time. First of all, Charles Bronson bears absolutely no resemblance to Joe Valachi whatsoever. His Italian accent and mannerisms are atrocious! The supporting cast is somewhat believable but not outstanding. The story itself does not flow very well and one blaring omission is that the actual Joe Valachi was coached by Federal agents prior to his Grand Jury testimony: i.e. his "knowledge of the pay scale for low-ranking mobsters in Detroit". Joe Valachi had a sixth grade education and absolutely no knowledge of anything outside of New York City! Personally, I found the History Channel documentary "Joe The Rat Valachi" much more informative, accurate, smoothly written and conforming to the novel written by Peter Maas.

Charles Bronson starts to break out of spaghetti westerns and good character roles and becomes a leading man around the time The Valachi Papers came out. It was a big milestone in his career, playing the most famous gangster stoolie of all.It's not quite true that all Valachi's testimony managed to do was get a lot of high television ratings for some re-election hungry Senators. Not that they didn't get it and didn't appreciate the side benefits of those famous televised hearings, but eventually what came out of the Valachi hearings was the RICO law which has in fact put quite a dent into organized crime.The Valachi Papers has Charles Bronson telling FBI man Gerald S. O'Loughlin about his life and times in organized crime with La Cosa Nostra from the days of the Marranzano-Masseria wars until the present which would have been 1962. He doesn't really tell anything new to them, basically he confirms what had been gangster legend about the circumstances of many a demise. But with some hard documentation now, new laws are created to meet the problem.Bronson does his best with Valachi, but the story has him pretty one dimensional. It's far from The Godfather where you really get inside the characters of the fictional Corleone family. Bronson sure has no conscience about what he did and I'm sure the real Valachi didn't either. In fact the only reason he turns informer is that Vito Genovese already mistakenly has him down as one.Fans of the gangster genre and Charles Bronson should give this one a look. Others should see The Godfather all three parts.